A Taste of Home – Butter Mochi Recipe

This Butter Mochi Recipe is a little taste of home. It’s a favorite snack in Hawaii. It’s soft and full of yummy butter and coconut flavors.

Butter Mochi Recipe

For those of you who are looking for a quick and easy Butter Mochi Recipe, then you’ve come to the right place. This recipe was given to me from my sister and it’s one of the best recipes around. I grew up chowing down on Butter Mochi after soccer games, swim meets, and family parties. This was the dessert to make when I grew up in Hawaii and it’s still a favorite today. I generally wait until I’m visiting family in Hawaii to make it, but sometimes I’ve got cravings and I made an entire 9×13 pan of this all for myself!

If you’ve never heard of Butter Mochi, maybe you’ve heard of just Mochi. Mochi is a Japanese pounded rice dessert and you can find it in various flavors and sometimes stuffed with candy, fruit, or ice cream. Heck, Whole Foods has a mochi bar in most of their stores. Butter Mochi is just mochi with A LOT of butter and sweetened with coconut cream.

It turns out looking like yellow cake, but has a sticky cut edge.

You can vary the amount of butter in it. I’ve found that some people liked a more cake-like consistency and other really love that butter flavor. You can add up to a two cups of butter if you prefer a more buttery and gooey texture, but I will warn you that it will be more greasy. Reduce the butter, like I did to 3/4 cups butter for a less greasy, more firm texture. You’ll find the right consistency for you and your family.

My first time making Butter Mochi was an adventure. I always asked someone else to make it. Doesn’t everything taste better when someone else makes it? My sister sent me the recipe and I followed it… The original recipe called for “a block of butter”.

How much is a block of butter??

If a recipe said to use a block, how much would you add??

A stick of butter?

A 1/2 pound?

A pound of butter?

To ME…. a block of butter is a pound. Four Sticks = 2 cups. And that is what I used. I learned my lesson and reduced the butter after that.

Butter Mochi

This Butter Mochi Recipe is a little taste of home. It is a favorite snack in the Hawaiian Islands and it's soft and full of yummy butter and coconut flavors.

Prep Time20 minutes

Cook Time1 hour

Rest Time4 hours

Total Time5 hours20 minutes

Ingredients

12 oz. Coconut Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 to 1 1/2 sticks of butter (1/2 to 3/4 Cups)

3 C Sugar

4 Eggs

1 (16oz) box Mochiko Flour (Glutinous Rice Flour)

2 C 2% Milk

1 tsp Baking Powder

Instructions

Soften the butter and mix with sugar. Slowly add in 1/4 of the Mochiko Flour, baking powder, vanilla, and 2 eggs. Add in another 1/4 of the flour, 2 eggs and coconut milk. Alternate in another 1/4 flour and half the milk until all flour and milk is added and mixed in until smooth.

It's not a cake in the traditional sense. It's a thick, sticky "bar". There is nothing light and fluffy about it. The glutinous rice give it a dense and almost rubbery texture. Think more of a rich fudgey brownie vs. a cake brownie.

As far as a wheat free diet, this is great. As a low-calorie diet, this is NOT it. Think of super thick pound cake with no "fluff" to it. It is a thick bar type dessert. Try it and let me know what you think, but don't expect a cake texture.

Hi Karyn,What a lovely dessert, I wish this serving was mine right now, it looks delicious. Hope you are having a great week and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.Come Back Soon!Miz Helen

I also tried this recipe for my daughter’s hawaiian themed birthday and it came out watery because the recipe still says 6 oz of mochiko. I will have to make another run to the store to get another box. Hopefully this time it’ll come out yummy in time for her party!

FYI it still shows 1 (6 oz) instead of 16 oz of mochiko. Luckily I had ignored the measurement and just used the whole box but you really should fix it so people don’t get stuck with watery butter mochi. Thanks!

I think i left mine to cool overnight. It should cool completely on the counter in 4 hours or so. It will be firm enough to handle, but it won’t get hard unless its in the fridge. It’s best served soft.

This looks great, but just EXACTLY how much butter should I use to make this? I want it to turn out to be the best it can be and with the option of two different amounts of butter, I’m a bit confused. Thank you.

I hope it turned out ok for you. It should be 2 cups of milk TOTAL added in. In the instructions I listed it as 1 C milk meaning half the milk followed by some flour then the remaining milk and last of the flour. I’ve adjusted the instructions to clarify that. Please let me know if you have any issues with the recipe. It probably came out thicker than normal.

I was desperately searching for a mochi cake recipe because it is far to expensive to fly to Hawaii to bring home a premixed version, nearly as expensive as buying it on the internet and paying for shipping cost. Yours is THE BEST. I have struggled each new year making manju, the traditional Japanese treat for luck in the new year. This year we are having your mochi cake. I believe I will be luckier!!

I don’t think so. You want that coconut flavor in this dessert. Also, the almond milk won’t be nearly as thick as the coconut milk. It’s the full fat coconut milk in the can, not the “milk” you pour on cereal. I’d suggest a different recipe.

To Sarah regarding coconut allergy: Mochi is a very forgiving dessert. YES, by all means use almond milk or any other milk substitute as well as the ‘milk’ you pour on cereal. I live in Hawaii and make this all the time with many successful liquid variations. Also, the recipe provided on this website may be quite yummy, but is overkill on sugar. My recipe consists of the following amounts: 1 block (1/2 C) butter, 1 C sugar (not 3 cups), 3 eggs and 1 can of coconut milk or evaporated milk (in addition to all of the other ingredients listed).

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Hi, I'm Karyn!

Grab a large glass of milk and pick out your favorite dessert. I've got all of your sweets covered from breakfast delights, to mid-day cookies, and night time treats. Make an easy batch of muffins for the book club or a layered cake for a special birthday. You're sure to find something for your skill level.